Chapter 2261: Key for Key
Xu Huo briefly explained the situation in the space prison. "It involves a bit of luck."
Zhu Xiaojin thought it over. "If you become a prisoner, you're probably going to lose the game, right? This is clearly targeting prisoners. Does this game have a punitive nature?"
"Whether it's punitive or not, I don't know," the female player said. "But this is how the game is played."
"Besides, this game is called One-Third. Who knows if there's more to come. What I'm worried about now is, if winning one round leads to a second, and losing one round leads to a second, then aren't we bound to end up dead here sooner or later?"
"I think it's much safer to clear the game outside," Zhu Xiaojin said. "Here, even though you can kill anyone, no one has any items, so the strength gap isn't huge. Relying on hand-to-hand combat while outnumbered is a disadvantage. It's probably hard to accumulate enough kills..."
As he spoke, his gaze paused on Xu Huo. "Of course, there are exceptions."
Tactfully not asking exactly how many people Xu Huo needed to kill to clear the game, he stood up and shouted to the surroundings: "Cheng Zhongzhi, Shen Fu! I'm Zhu Xiaojin! Brother Xu is here too! If you're still alive, come over here!"
The surrounding players cast glances their way. Teaming up wasn't unusual; many were doing it. Even if they lost a game, the instance didn't make it as easy to accumulate the required number of kills as it did now.
Zhu Xiaojin called out a few times. After a while, a chubby middle-aged man walked out. "You are?"
"Cheng Zhongzhi." The middle-aged man hesitated. "Shen Fu should be dead."
"Before we even entered the room yesterday, someone had their eye on him."
"It's fine!" Zhu Xiaojin stepped forward and patted his shoulder. "We won't blame you for not saving him. In instances, everyone looks out for themselves first. As long as you didn't kill him, there's no need to feel guilty!"
Cheng Zhongzhi clearly wasn't someone with a strong mental fortitude. The change in his expression was too obvious. Even Zhu Xiaojin immediately sensed something was wrong. The warmth on his face vanished, and he stepped back.
"I didn't recognize him at first," Cheng Zhongzhi quickly explained. "It was only after I made a move that I realized it was Shen Fu. I didn't target him on purpose..."
Zhu Xiaojin didn't say much more. He stopped paying him any attention, returned, and sat down with Xu Huo and the others.
Seeing this, Cheng Zhongzhi didn't join them but moved to a farther spot.
"This is common in games. They weren't that close anyway," the female player said.
"That's true, but specifically targeting someone you know isn't a good person. If killing anyone is the same, why not choose another target? It's only because they knew beforehand that this person was easy to deal with." Zhu Xiaojin shook his head. "I'm not pointing fingers, but I definitely wouldn't want an ally like that. Who knows if they'd stab you in the back halfway through."
Xu Huo nodded slightly and then said, "You don't know how many kills you've accumulated in the instance. Since you're here, use these few days to complete the instance's kill requirement."
Zhu Xiaojin's face lit up with joy. "I'm really grateful you're willing to help. Don't worry, even if I lose my memory after getting out, given our relationship, I'll tell you if I clear the game. If you enter the game again, you'll definitely know what's going on!"
That was exactly what Xu Huo intended.
This time, the game started a bit earlier. At two in the morning, the Water Cube announced the game's rules in front of the maze. Same as yesterday, all players rushed into the maze to find keys once the game began.
Xu Huo and the female player were again "guards" this time, while Zhu Xiaojin was a "prisoner."
"You two go find the guard keys first. My keys are everywhere. I'll meet up with you later!" Zhu Xiaojin gestured for them to go ahead.
Xu Huo didn't linger. He entered the maze at top speed, unleashing his spiritual realm to search the surroundings. Even though there were many spaces near the corridors and his spiritual power might not cover them all, the area he could inspect was much larger than an ordinary player's, and he was faster. So once inside, he took every key he sensed.
The maze area one person could cover was always limited. Choosing one direction meant he wouldn't have time to check other places. If he was unlucky and didn't find a "guard" key, he'd have to get one from someone else. Trading was the fastest method.
Five hundred people entered the game today, with one thousand prisoner keys—more than enough. However, some players, out of caution, wouldn't stray too far from the crowd and didn't dare venture deep into the maze. So in the end, there were bound to be people who didn't get a key.
Now, it was hard for anyone to hide things on their person. So when Xu Huo wandered around with a bag full of keys, many people set their sights on him.
"Prisoners" couldn't attack "guards" at night, so these people could only try to get keys through theft or snatching, but with little success.
Xu Huo hadn't found a guard key, so he made an offer: "If anyone finds a guard key, I'll release all the prisoner keys."
It wasn't a one-for-one trade. If just one person succeeded, he could hand over all his keys.
Some players who hadn't found keys started to get ideas. The guard key hadn't appeared yet, which meant someone was hiding it. With so many players, someone was bound to have seen it.
"Did you get the guard key?" the female player asked hurriedly when she saw Xu Huo return.
"No," Xu Huo said. "You didn't get one either?"
"Not just me. I ran into two other guards, and they didn't find the key either." The female player's face showed anger. "It seems those hiding the keys don't plan on winning the game!"
No guard meant no risk for them at night. Seven days was enough time to accumulate the required kills. Losing the game only meant amnesia—a worthwhile trade.
"It's fine. Someone will voluntarily hand over the key." Xu Huo had an idea. Using his spiritual power, he took the keys from a dozen nearby "prisoners."
A string of keys landed openly in his hand, and he put them into his backpack. Then, in front of everyone, he said, "I'll say it again. Whoever can find the guard key, all the keys in this backpack are yours. I don't want them."
"Prisoners" couldn't attack "guards" at this time. The players feared the Water Cube and had to swallow their anger. They then scattered to spread the news and search for the guard key.
The maze was huge, and there were so many people. Some thought they could get lucky and hide, but in less than half an hour, two players who had hidden guard keys were found. The other players didn't bother to bring them to Xu Huo for handling; they simply killed them and brought the keys to him.
The two players arrived one after the other. Xu Huo took the guard keys and, as promised, dumped all the prisoner keys from his backpack onto the ground:
"Help yourselves."
(End of Chapter)